After receiving quite some backlash from the LGBTQ+ community on their name policy, Facebook has decided to update it and apologize.
Facebook has been receiving some negative backlash after some members of San Francisco’s drag community had their accounts closed for not using their “real names” (that is, their legal names). The LGBTQ+ community made a point out of this: these people chose to not identify as their biological sex, so whether their legal name is used or not doesn’t matter: they can choose to identify as whatever they want to.
Facebook has issued an apology, via Chris Cox’s personal page. The statement claims the company will “fix the way this policy gets handled”, but we don’t know any specific measures yet. The point, though, is that Facebook’s policy “has never been to require everyone on Facebook to use their legal name.” differentiating Instead that “everyone on Facebook uses the authentic name they use in real life.”
The issue that sparked it all was apparently caused by one single user who decided to report hundreds of accounts and profiles from drag and transgender people as fake. This is particularly awkward, because Facebook is notorious from taking no offense from pages that are clearly offensive. Still, good for them for acknowledging issues, and working to fix them.
Via Mashable
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